The animals tab is where you enter all animal enterprises for the farm, this includes livestock enterprise information, animals distribution and health supplements data.
Enterprise refers to the different types of animals that could be farmed. Enterprises available in OverseerFM are Beef/Dairy Grazing, Deer, Dairy Goats, Dairy, Dairy Replacements, Outdoor pigs and other (non-farm) animals.
Guidance on the information required to add stock is displayed in green boxes when Show Help is on.
Once enterprises have been added, the animals distribution can be specified.
Enterprises summary
The green box at the top of the tab will show each animal enterprise that is on the farm. If stock is entered by stock reconciliation the monthly numbers of the enterprise will be displayed. If the stock was entered using revised stock unit RSU these values will be shown here too.
RSU is 6000 MJ ME intake/yr and is used to compare different animals.
Animal enterprises can be edited and deleted from this table.
Livestock (mobs within each enterprise)
It is recommended that the stock enterprises are entered by stock reconciliation. The entry of stock numbers must be as accurate as possible to ensure that a relevant nutrient budget is produced. Stock numbers are entered by event (purchase/bring on, Sale/take off, Sale to works). As you enter data, OverseerFM calculates the monthly stock numbers and the grazing days. You can enter stock numbers by RSU if required.
Animal distribution
The distribution of animals on the farm can be entered from this screen. Animal stock numbers are entered on a farm scale and that determines the total amount of excreta nutrients produced. OverseerFM first accounts for animals on pads and forage crops and assumes the remaining stock to be on pasture. Use animal distribution to adjust how the model distributes animals to blocks for significant management approaches only, such as wintering-off, time on fodder crops.
Animals on blocks
This tab shows the animals present on the blocks within the farm. If animals are present on a block an animal icon will be displayed for that animal type for each month they are on the block. If the analysis has results the RSU value for the animal type will also be displayed for each month the animals are on the block.
This view is a good overall view to see if it a good representation of when animals were on blocks throughout the year.